AFPGhana is heading for its ninth normal election since multiparty politics resumed in 1992.
In that point, there have been three peaceable transfers of energy, with the 2 predominant events – the Nationwide Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Celebration (NPP) – holding the presidency for a complete of 16 years every.
Right here, in charts, are the massive points this time spherical because the NPP goes for an unprecedented third successive time period in energy.
Ghanaians have been hit significantly laborious within the pocket by the worldwide bout of inflation, starting in early 2022, that noticed costs rise within the nation at their quickest fee for greater than 20 years.
The annual fee of improve reached a peak of 54.1% in December 2022. It has since come down, however that is simply a median and costs of some staples have continued to go up sharply.
Eggs and tomatoes, as an example have been greater than twice as costly in February 2024 as they have been 12 months earlier. Different Ghanaian favourites have additionally shot up with wages not preserving tempo.
Though the favored nationwide dish – Ga kenkey (fermented maize dumplings) with fish – has not seen such an enormous soar, the balls of kenkey at the moment are smaller.
Because of this, extra individuals have been pushed into poverty and dwelling requirements have suffered, the World Financial institution says.
In 2022, Ghana defaulted on its debt repayments and was pressured into prolonged negotiations with worldwide lenders to attempt to restructure the loans, that are nonetheless on-going.
Native lenders have been pressured into taking decrease repayments.
The federal government additionally went to the Worldwide Financial Fund to get assist with a bailout programme.
President Nana Akufo-Addo admitted the nation was in “disaster” however blamed exterior forces. The opposition and a few economists stated it was right down to financial mismanagement by the federal government.
The amount of cash that Ghana owes its collectors has steadily risen for the final 20 years, however there was a pointy uptick in 2019, and by 2022 the federal government wanted greater than 70% of its revenue simply to service the debt.
The nation’s financial difficulties have been accompanied by a steadily rising unemployment fee.
Going again 20 years, one in 20 Ghanaians capable of work have been unemployed – that determine now stands at one in seven.
With greater than half the inhabitants – some 24 million individuals – below the age of 35, younger individuals have been significantly hard-hit.
For 15-to-24-year-olds the unemployment fee is twice the general determine, with almost 30% and not using a job.
The views of youthful voters may have a big effect on the result of the election.
As Africa’s largest – and the world’s tenth greatest – producer of the valuable steel, gold performs an enormous function within the economic system.
Gold mining has develop into a serious talking-point within the months main as much as the election, with complaints in regards to the harm that small-scale and unlawful mining is doing to the setting.
However with the worldwide gold value greater than doubling within the final decade, the attraction of getting concerned within the enterprise is clear.
Gold is an enormous foreign-exchange earner for Ghana – in 2023, exports amounted to $5.2bn (£4.1bn).
Together with gold, the nation has sources of oil, fuel, diamonds, bauxite and lithium amongst different issues.
It is usually an enormous participant within the international cocoa market, being the world’s second largest provider of the very important ingredient of chocolate.
These sources have remodeled the economic system over the previous three a long time and enabled the nation to develop into a lot richer, with excessive poverty dropping by half in that point, World Financial institution consultants have stated.
The common annual revenue per individual has gone by a dramatic shift since 2005, with the usual of dwelling displaying a marked improve as much as 2017.
Since then, nonetheless, it has barely risen, apart from a spike in 2021.
At election time, politicians need to cope with the truth that voters have a tendency to not take the long-term view however usually base their alternative on whether or not issues are bettering within the brief time period.
The final three a long time have seen a sequence of intently fought and peaceable elections.
Because of this Ghana has typically been held up for instance of an open democracy that has turned its again on instability and its personal historical past of coups in a area the place they’re nonetheless a difficulty.
In some circumstances, elections hinged on simply tens of 1000’s of votes and regardless of occasional authorized challenges, the outcomes have usually been accepted by the losers.
We anticipate finding out the outcomes of this yr’s race inside three days of the 7 December election.
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